Helldivers 1:Retaliatory Strike

Retaliatory Strike missions are a part of a free content update Democracy Strikes Back released on 26th October 2015. These missions require Helldivers to drop into a hazardous, arena-like area to exterminate as many of the enemies of democracy as possible before being allowed to extract.

During a Retaliatory Strike, a large kill counter (with progress bar) will appear at the top of the screen.

Retaliatory Strike Arenas

There are 108 handcrafted arenas in total. Going left to right, Bugs, Cyborgs, and Illuminates previews appear in columns of four. City Event arenas appear as a row separately at the bottom:

Difficulty Kills Required Table

Retaliatory Strikes can appear from Medium Difficulty up to the The Inner Circle of Hell difficulty as one of the tree missions.

Difficulty	Description	Enemies to kill
		Bug	Cyborg	Illuminate
4	Medium	200	200	180
5	Challenging	225	225	200
6	Very Challenging	250	250	220
7	Hard	275	275	240
8	Very Hard	275	275	260
9	Hard as Hell	300	300	280
10	Suicide Mission	325	325	300
11	Impossible	350	350	350
12	Helldive	400	400	400
13	An Exercise in Futility	410	410	410
14	The Definition of Insanity	?	?	?
15	The Inner Circle of Hell	450	450	450

Retaliatory Strike Hazards

The Retaliatory Strike arenas usually do not stand out, but a few of them are extremely dangerous, not only because they are filled with enemies - Arenas are arranged with hazards such as:

• Water
• Snow
• Magma Eruptions

Gameplay Tips

• The AT-47 Anti-Tank Emplacement is very effective on the Retaliatory Strike mission-type, especially against Cyborgs or Bugs, and many players consider this Stratagem to be overly powerful against any enemy race. For new recruits especially, the AT-47 can turn a seemingly impossible endeavour into an easy experience. One or two emplacements defended and/or healed by other players with additional defensive items is a commonly found set-up for RS missions.
• Another effective tactic is to set up defenses such as Airdropped Anti-Personnel Mines or the A/AC-6 Tesla Tower in the center of the map. If (or rather when) the enemy swarms your position, reposition by skirting around the defenses (or by using a Jetpack to jump over them), escaping the enemy and simultaneously leading them back through the kill zone.
  • The Airdropped Anti-Personnel Mines or/and A/AC-6 Tesla Tower is only effective against Bugs and Illuminates, bringing this loadout on the higher Cyborgs Retaliatory Strike missions is not recommended.
• It is recommended to bring the laser weapons instead, you will save one stratagem (Resupply) slot which will be very helpful to you and your team on the arena.
• Teamwork is especially required on Retaliatory Strike missions. Help your fellow Helldivers and match the loadout to theirs. (If your team is using ammo-hungry weapons and you will need more ammo, then take more resupply even at the cost of your 2 stratagems slots!)
• Retaliatory Strikes are quite small, but it doesn't mean to stay in one place. Movement is the most important part of survivability so keep moving.
• Bringing a Shredder Missile Strike can be extremely effective when the enemies go out of control and most of the helldivers are dead. Just throw a shredder and wait patiently with Reinforce stratagem in your hand.
  • When you are playing a Retaliatory Strike alone and you are dead, a shredder automatically falls and kills most of the enemies before you revive.
• While LIFT-850 Jump Packs can be quite effective, it must be used with extreme care since the map is small and you might be jumping into the enemies or mine field.
• RL-112 Recoilless Rifle or M-25 Rumbler might be a good choice if you need some anti-tanks, but four EAT-17 combined with Stratagem Priority works very well. Just spread it out in the arena and pick it up when you need it.

Notes

• The Retaliatory Strikes frequency has been lowered to max one per planet and approximately one occurrence on every third planet in Patch 4.01.
  • When playing solo in Retaliatory Strikes you will start with 2 Auto-Reinforces and a Shredder Missile Strike will clear the area when you respawn.

Gallery

• 

  0 enemies eliminated

• 

  57 enemies eliminated

• 

  246 enemies eliminated

• 

  300 enemies eliminated

• 

  376 enemies eliminated

• 

  504 enemies eliminated

Work in Progress

To be expanded:

• A specific number of enemies required to accomplish the mission for all factions at any difficulty.

• Advanced tactics/techniques such as a recommend and the most useful loadouts, tricks and more...

• All hand-crafted arenas. (+ screenshots)
  • Effects of the various terrain types on certain maps (i.e. the "small cyborg square" never features any terrain hazard, etc.)
    • And all bugs, glitches, and exploits assigned to them.